Ignition system.



'PATENTED MAR. 12, 1907.

3. VARLEY. IGNITION SYSTEM.

. APPLIOATION FILED NOV. 27, 1905.

5mm You a f al'l'ozlc .jut %'y/ Unrrnn srnrns Parana @IFFIGE.

RICHARD VARLEY, or nnennwoon'nnw JERSEY, ASSIGNQR ro THE Aurocorn COMPANY, A. CORPORATION on NEW Jnnsnr.

HGNITHQN {SYSTEWIU Specification of Letters Eatent.

Patented Idarch 12, 1907.

Application filed November 27,1905. Serial lilo. 289,179-

citizen of the United States, residing at Englewood, in the county of Bergen and State of New'Jersey, have invented ce tain new and useful Improvements in Ignition Systems, of which the following is a full, clear,.

and exact description.

My invention relates to ignition systems for explosion-engines, and particularly those in which an electric jump-spark is employed. Sparks for this purpose are commonlyproduced by an induction coil or coils which have their primary circuits completed and broken for each explosion of the engine. account of the self-induction of the primary windings there is a considerable impedance to the necessary magnetization of the coils, and when the engine is running at high speed it frequently happens that insufficient time is given for the complete magnetization thereof unless the current has a' comparatively high potential, which is objectionable for various reasons.

The object of my invention is to prolong the time of action of the primary-current in.

each induction-coil to its greatest possible limit, so that complete magnetization is secured with a low-potential primary current and at the highest working speeds of the engme.

With this and other objects in view my invention consists in the construction, combination, location, and arrangement of arts,

all as will be more fully hereinafter set orth,

as shown in the accompanying drawing, and finally particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

The drawing illustrates diagrammatically the circuits and mechanical parts of a system embodying the principles of my invention.

In tie case of a'four-cylinder explosionengine two sparks are required at every revolution,-so that if the engine is running at nine hundred r. p. in. thirty arks are required s each second, and it is evid dnt that if an ordinary circuit-breaker is depended upon to complete and break the primary circuit there will be very little time for it to make an effi cient circuit. In other words, it is very difli cult and in practice almost impossible to arrange a vibrating lever that will break the primary circuit and then again complete it for a perod of sufficient duration to allow the primary coil to attain its full efficiency for the rapid speeds required.

In carrying out my invention I wholly overcome this defect and provide means by which the rimary circuit is broken in the abrupt am? positive way required andthen again closed thoroughly and efficiently, so as I to let the primary current flow uninterruptedly for the extreme maximum period which is theoretically possible in practice corres onding to nearly ninety degrees rotation of t e half-time shaft. I do'not depend upon the vibrating circuit-breaker lever for closing the primary circuit, but use another or auxiliary closing-circuit which is not liable to inefficiency by chattering or sluggishness or any other cause of. improper circuit-closing action.

Referring to the drawing and to the various views and reference-signs appearing thereon, in which like parts, are designated by the same reference-sign, 1 indicates the engineshaft, and 2 denotes What I shall term the half-time shaft geared or otherwise connected thereto.

While the speed and arrangement shown is adapted to a four-cylinder engine, it is evident that my system is not limited to this use, since the shaft 2 may be run at any necessary speed commensurate with the engine and the number of contacts hereinafter described varied for engines of a different character.

Rigidly fixed to and rotating with the shaft 2 are a plurality of cams or contact members 3, 4, and 5, which have a special relation to one another, hereinafter described. While the method of mounting these parts upon the same shaft is the most practical and convenient one, I do not desire to be limited or restricted thereto, since the cams or contact members 3 4. 5 may be rotated synchronously in other ways The part or cam 3 is disposed ad acent to a circuit-breaking lever 6, pivoted or otherwise flexibly attached at 7 and having a contactpoint 8, which normally rests against and makes electrical connection with a stationary contact 9. The circuit-breaking lever 6 is pressed by any suitable means, such as a spring 10, into the position shown, where it normally makes a connection with the primary ignition-circuit. The cam 3 has projections 11 thereon, which engage a camwheel 12 upon the circuit-breaking lever, and the arrangement is such that as the earn 3 rotates the projections 11 come successively into contact with the wheel 12 and lift the circuit-breaking lever 6 positively and abruptly to break the primary circuit at 8.

The rotating part 4:, which 1 shall term the primary-circuit-closing conductor, is preferably made of copper or some good conductor of electricity and has projecting segments or faces 13 corresponding in number to the projections 11 of the earn 3, above described. 14 and 15. indicate brushes held by an insulating ring or support 16, so as to engage the conductor 1. The brush 15 bears against a ring 4 on the conductor and makes continuous electrical connection therewith. The brush 1 1 lies in the path of the segments 13, so as to complete an electrical circuit with the conductor 4, and thereby with the brush 15, a plurality of times for each revolution of the conductor.

The rotating part 5, above referred to, and which I shall term the circuit-controller, rotates in proximity to spaced brushes 17, 17 17 and 17" and has a segmental section 18 thereon, which successively makes contact with said brushes. in a practical form of my invention 1. make the segment 18 a little less than ninety degrees in length," so that it contacts with the brushes 17, 17 1.7 and 17 successively and each for a period of nearly one-quarter a revolution of the halftime shaft.

1 will now describe the arrangement of the electrical circuitsand connections by which the above apparatus is embodied in my system. B indicates any suitable source of electric current, preferably a magneto-generator driven from the engine, and Z and Z indicate the terminal connections therefrom. The connection Z is preferably grounded, while Z is led to the contact member 9, above described. An additional or branch circuit Z is also lead to the brush 15 of the primary circuit-closing contactor. As the half-time shaft rotates, the parts take, for example, the position shown in the figure, in which a protuberance 11 on the cam 3 is just at the point of engaging the cam-roller 12. At this time a circuit is completed from the generator B as follows: wire Z contacts 9 8,

lever 6, wires Z Z, primary P and brush 17 segment 18, wire Z, back to ground. At the proper instant the circuit-breaking lever 6 is abruptly raised by the protuberance 11 on the cam 3, so that the primary circuit is sharply broken, the condenser K, bridged across the contacts, absorbing the spark in the usual way. The breaking of the primary circuit in the coil P is effective to induce a high-potential current in the secondary S of finely as desired.

eaasie such coil, which causes a spark to jump the gap 9/ at the ignition-plug in the usual way.

The motion of the circuit-breaking lever 6 is quite abrupt, so that a very small fraction of a revolution after the break occurs the contacts8 and 9 are quite widely separated. A very small time afterward, and, possibly before the lever 6 has had time to return, a segment 13 of the primary-circuiteclosing conductor 4 comes into contact with the brush 1 1 and completes a new path for the primary current-namely, through the wires Z and brush 15, conductor 4, brush 14, wire Z, wire Z as before. The circuit at the brush 17 is, however, now broken; but a new contact is made at the brush 17 by the plate 18, through which the current now passes to wire Z and ground as before, passing now, however, through primary P instead of primary P The current from the magneto is therefore enabled to start promptly in buil ling up the primary circuit of coil 'The contact-lever 6 almost immediately afterward and before the segments 13 has passed. away from the brush 14 drops again into contact with the point 9, so that the break when made will be done by the lever 6 and not by the segments 13, which would not have a sufficiently abrupt movement to make a desirable break of the circuit. By the use of the circuit-closing conducter 4 if am enabled to completethe primary circuit almost in stantly after its break and to retain it closed for a period of nearly ninety degrees rotation of the half-time shaft and until the succeeding break at the circuit-breaking lever 6. It is evident, therefore, that l secure a very ellicient primary circuit, in which good electrical contacts are made, and for a sufliciently long period to secure adequate magnetization of the successive induction-coils. 1

In practice the ring 16 is conveniently made angularly adjustable with respect to the vibrator 6, so that the interval between the instant the circuit is broken at 8 and that when it is closed by the segments 13 may be regulated to any determined amount and as In like manner the shaft 2 or the entirasystem involving the levers 6 and the ring 16 and the brushes 17, 17 &c., may be displaced angularly with relation to the cycle of the engine, so as to vary the time of the ignition in the usual way.

\Vhat I claim is- 1. In an ignition system for explosion-engines, an induction-coil, means for breaking the primary-current circuit therein to induce a jump-spark from the secondary, and separate means for immediately reclosing said.

circuit at a different point therein.

2. In an ignition system for explosion-engines, an inductioncoil, means for breaking the primary-current circuit therein to induce a jump-spark from the secondary, and means see eio for immediately reclosing said circuit at a different point therein.

3. In an ignition system for explosion-engines, an inductiorecoil, means for breaking the primary-current circuit therein to induce a jump-spark from the secondary, and means for reclosing said circuit at a different point thereof an indefinitely small period of time behind said circuit-breaking action.

4. In an ignition system for explosion-engines, means for breaking a primary induction-coil circuit to produce a jump-spark, and means for reclosing said circuit, at a diferent point thereof, any desired minute interval thereafter, however small this may be.

5. In an ignition system for explosion-engines, a half-time shaft having a cam with four 'protuberances thereon, a circuit-breaking lever having a cam-roller in the path of said protuberances, an auxiliary primary circuit including a brush, a conductor upon said shaft and having four segments adapted to pass successively into contact with said brush and complete the primary circuit immediately after it has been broken at the circuit-breaker. I

6. In an ignition system for explosion-engines, an induction-coil, a pair of contactpoints, means for positively separating said contact-points to break the primary circuit of such induction-coil to induce a jump-spark from the secondary, and separate means for immediately'reclosing said circuit at a different point therein.

7. In an ignition system for explosion-engines, a continuously-rotating shaft having separate means thereon for breaking and su seq uently closing a circuit, a series of induction-coils, and means upon said shaft for connecting the primaries oft-he different coils successively into said circuit.

8. In an ignition system for explosion-engines, an induction-coil, a palr of contact- .points, means for positively impelling said points apart to break the rimary circuit of said induction-coil and IDd lICB a jump-spark from the secondary, and positively-impelled means for immediately reclosing said circuit at a difierent point therein.

9. In an ignition system for explosion-engines, a continuously-rotating shaft havin a cam thereon, a circuit-breaking lever in t e path of said cam and adapted to abruptly reak the primary circuit, and a circuit-closing conductor also fixed to said shaft and having segments arranged to complete the primary circuit a small fraction of a revolution behind said initial break.

10. In an ignition system for explosion-engines, a half-time shaft having a cam with four protuberances thereon, a circuit-breaking lever having a cam-roller in the path of said rotuberances whereby said lever is abrupt y-moved to break the primary circuit, a'

conductor having segments also fixed upon said half-time shaft, and a brush in the path of said segments arranged to complete said primary circuit immediately after each break thereof.

11. In an ignition system for explosion-engines, a halfime shaft having a circuitbreaking cam thereon, a circuit-closing conductor also disposed upon said shaft and arranged to complete the primary circuit immediately after each break thereof, and a circuit-controller having a segment of substantially quadrant shape also rotating with said shaft and adapted to complete the primary circuits of a plurality of induction-coils successively.

12. In an ignition system for explosion-engines, a magneto-generator having a divided circuit, a cam-operated circuit-breaker in one branch of said circuit and a synchronouslymoving circuit closer in another branch thereof; said circuit-closer being ada ted to com lete the circuit immediately a'ter the brea thereof, a plurality of induction-coils, and means for connecting said induction-- coils successively into said circuit.

13. In an ignition system for explosion-engines, a magneto-generator having a divided circuit, a cam-operated circuit-breaker in one branch thereof, a synchronously-moving circuit-closer inanother branch thereof ada ted to operate immediately after the brea r of said circuit-breaker, and an induction-coil having its primary in such circuit.

14. In an ignition system for explosion-engines having an induction-coil with a primary ignition-circuit, a half-time shaft and means thereon for breaking the primary ignition-circuit and immediately closing it for an interval of nearly ninety degrees of angular movement, four times in each revolution of said shaft.

15. In an ignition system for explosion-engines having an induction-coil with a primary ignition-circuit, ahalf-time shaft carrying a circuit-breaking cam and a circuit-closing conductor fixed. thereto, and means whereby the primary circuit -is alternately broken by said cam and completed by said conductor.

16. In an ignition system for explosion-engines a primary circuit including a circuitreaking lever and a circuit-closing conductor in multiple with. one another, and means whereby the circuit is first broken at said lever and subsequently completed at said conductor.

17. In an ignition system for explosion-engines having an induction-coil with a primary ignition-circuit, a continuously-rotating shaft, a cam having protuberances thereon, a circuit-breaking lever contacting with said cam, a circuit-closing conductor also mounted on said shaft, and means whereby the primediately afterward elosed by said conduceee ere mery circuit is broken byeaid lever end imdiately after it has been broken at the aircuit-breaker, and means for directing the primery current into the series of inductioncoils successively.

in Witness whereof I subscribe my signature in the presence of two Witnesses.

RICHARD VARLEY.

tor before the lever has had time 'to return to its normal position. l 5

18. In an ignition system for eXpl0siori-er1- giiies having induction-coils With primary ig- I nition-eireuits, a continuously-rotating shaft 1 having a cam thereon, a circuit-breaking lever arranged to be engaged by said earn, a I

circuit-closing conductor having segments adapted to make the primary Circuits imme- /Vitnesses FRANK S. @BER, WILLIAM DONNAN, Jr. 

